disappointed and sad with Holderread's silver appleyards

[pastrymama]

back in june i received my first order from Holderread's. 5 WH, 5 SA and 7 magpies. first, my beautiful magpies, 6 of 7 end up being boys. at 5 weeks, i lost a harlequin and an appleyard, don't know why. every one else was fine. last week i lost an appleyard female, dead in the pen in the morning. a day or two later another appleyard female developed water belly extremely fast. she looked like a dog with bloat, poor thing. we put her down this morning. they are not even close to laying, only a bit over 3 months old. they are on waterfowl feed, fresh water daily, grass

good golly, i did everything by the book and still end up with dead ducks. thinking i would rather jab a pencil in my eye than order ducklings again.

 

[maclady]

Sorry about you ducklings. I have started reading this thread to learn since I really want a couple of Silver Appleyard ducks. Hope the rest of your ducklings will be fine.

 

[Jen C]

Sorry about your ducks. Hopefully you won't have any more losses. I would be concerned that the ducks were getting into something to cause this. Ducks are so inquisitive and tend to "taste" everything. It is not uncommon for them to ingest something poisonous. I have ordered from Holdrreads every year for the past few years and have been extremely happy with the birds. All have been very healthy. As far as getting mostly males on the magpies that is unfortunately just the luck of the draw sometimes. I ordered 8 penciled Indian Runners this year and ended up with 8 females. Now I really need a male!

 

[ChristineR]

Sorry about your ducks. Hopefully you won't have any more losses. I would be concerned that the ducks were getting into something to cause this. Ducks are so inquisitive and tend to "taste" everything. It is not uncommon for them to ingest something poisonous. I have ordered from Holdrreads every year for the past few years and have been extremely happy with the birds. All have been very healthy. As far as getting mostly males on the magpies that is unfortunately just the luck of the draw sometimes.

x2

 

[GrannysRoost]

So sorry girl about your duck I didn't know they could get such a thing...

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Sorry about your ducks.  Hopefully you won't have any more losses.  I would be concerned that the ducks were getting into something to cause this.  Ducks are so inquisitive and tend to "taste" everything.  It is not uncommon for them to ingest something poisonous.  I have ordered from Holdrreads every year for the past few years and have been extremely happy with the birds.  All have been very healthy.  As far as getting mostly males on the magpies that is unfortunately just the luck of the draw sometimes. 

x2

X3 sorry you had such a rough duck start

 

[Mum]

X3 sorry you had such a rough duck start

x4

Have you contacted them to explain this to them? I think I would be, even if they can't/won't do anything about it, I still think they should be informed.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I'm very sympathetic because it is difficult to lose birds. However, and there is really no way I can think of to be really kind to say this: if you are losing birds that are over a month old, it is not a fault with the hatchery.

 

[ChristineR]

I've found ducks to be extremely hardy. Way more so than chickens. I have to agree that it really couldn't in any way be Holderread's fault.

As already mentioned above, I would really look around they're area to see if there is any possiblity they could be getting into something they shouldn't.

I'm sorry you're having such trouble. I've had about the same luck with my chickens this year.

 

[pastrymama]

As I stated before, all the other breeds are fine. My muscovies, harlequins, magpies....it's just the appleyards. If they were "getting into something" they would have all eventually have gotten into this "something". I started combing my yard after the 2 went down at 4 weeks old and I found nothing. I did find a thread about another woman who had ordered appleyards from Holderreads and her males and females both developed water belly and died. She contacted them and was told that appleyards sometimes do not do well in certain environments. I don't buy it and neither did she. This is perhaps the reason that so few people are raising appleyards? I do not have an overabundance of animals on my property, so crowding is not an issue, filth is never an issue, always have fresh feed and water and never and pesticides. So I don't know.